Fairweather Heritage

The Fairweather Family is a bit of an enigma. We know they have either Essex or Sussex routes in England, but really only know of them from New Zealand since 1900 onwards.

I do not know a lot about the heritage of the Fairweather family. I do know that Mum’s father, Roy Gilbert Fairweather was a New Zealander who migrated to Australia at some point. He married Imelda Josephine Smith, and together they had 8 children (not in age order): 

  • John: married Margaret. Two children - Nola and John
  • Patrick: married Nancy. Two children - Michael and Anne
  • Terence: married Patricia: Four children - Paul, Judith, Greg and Anthony
  • Mary: married John Sheehan: Four children - Philip, Lynette, Geoff, John
  • Valerie: married Reginald Shorthouse: Three children - Keith, Colin and Cary
  • Eileen: married Terence Body: Two children - Patricia and Terence
  • Joan: married John Keenahan. Four children - Robert, Judy, Brian and Anne
  • Paul (died at 3 days of age)

Family tradition says that Roy built the doors and altar for the Catholic Church on Bondi Rd, Bondi, and this seems to be the case more than not as Roy and his father were devout Catholics, carpenters by trade and the Bondi Catholic Church was built during the era when Roy and his father were working and living on or near Birell Street, Bondi.

Roy and Imelda divorced later. Imelda died in Newcastle and is buried in Sandgate Cemetry.  How she came to be living in the area is not known for certain - although three of her children Terry, Patrick, and her daughter Val were living in Newcastle and Maitland around the time she died.

Roy died at Auckland (airport?) as he was about to return to Australia following a holiday. He is buried beside Imelda in the Sandgate Cemetry on the road between Newcastle and Maitland.

Of the other Fairweather children:

  • John mostly lived and worked in the Northern Territory.  For years he owned and operated the Daly Waters Hotel/Motel until it was washed away/destroyed in a flood during the late 1970’s.
  • Patrick ran a successful electrical contracting business whose main customer was the BHP Steelworks in Newcastle.
  • Terence worked with Patrick for quite a while but eventually ended up working for Beaurepaire’s with his brother-in-law, Reg Shorthouse.  Terry’s wife, Pat, still lives in the East Maitland family house.
  • Mary married John Sheehan.
  • Valerie married Reg Shorthouse and they settled in the southern suburbs of Newcastle.  Val went onto become a champion lawn bowls player.
  • Eileen married Terry Body Sr. and they settled in Katoomba where they run a variety of small businesses, most notably Body’s Travel Agency.
  • Joan married Jack Keenahan and they settled in Melbourne - although they did do a few years in Uganda before Idi Amin became too insane.  I don’t know a lot of their story but I suspect Mum was close to Joan as she used to visit her in Melbourne quite a bit.
  • Paul is buried in Wavereley Cemetery.